Man indicted after Ninilchik River death

A 39-year-old man has been indicted on manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide charges in connection with the death of a Ninilchik woman last November.

Wesley Shandy, 39, also was indicted on charges of driving while intoxicated and tampering with a witness by a Kenai grand jury.

Roxanne Herndon, 25, died Nov. 29 after falling off the back of a four-wheeler being driven by Shandy and going through the ice on the Ninilchik River.

According to Alaska State Trooper reports, Shandy was intoxicated while driving the four-wheeler southbound along the Ninilchik Beach when he lost control, drove off of the embankment and into the water of the mouth of the Ninilchik River.

Emergency responders from Ninilchik Fire and Ambulance were called at 7:56 p.m., and found Herndon about 15 minutes later, face down in the river.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation attempts were started and continued for more than one hour as Herndon was taken to Central Peninsula General Hospital. She was pronounced dead at 10:30 p.m. Herndon is survived her 8-year-old son, Cody Dutton.

Neither Herndon nor Shandy were wearing helmets and both had been drinking, said Ryan Browning, a trooper stationed in Anchor Point.

Toxicology tests revealed that Herndon had a blood alcohol level of 0.04 and Shandy a blood alcohol level of 0.11, he said.

Shandy made several attempts to tamper with witnesses by calling them from jail and asking them to testify falsely, Browning said.

Shandy asked witnesses to testify that Herndon had been driving the four-wheeler rather than himself, he said.

“It was obvious that she wasn’t,” Browning said.

Shandy has been lodged at the Wildwood Pretrial Facility and bail has been set at $25,000.